Dakath Fraxinus knew mistress Acacia had been Hypnotized the moment it happened. Really, her sudden swift in attitude left no doubt of what happened. Especially not given the warning of who they were dealing with.

All his nearby deputies had clearly realized the same thing, but Dakath had been quick to play along. He and his men trusted each other with their lives and they knew their sheriff had noticed the same thing they had. So, when Dakath followed the orders of the now Hypnotized dungeon mistress, they knew he had a reason for doing so.

It really helped that he had been able to pick out his deputies personally when he got this position. At the time he had focused more on picking his friends and coworkers he got along with.

But in hindsight Dakath knew he took his job so seriously he couldn't actually be friends with people who didn't. Meaning all his men were just as hardworking people as he was.

Of course that didn't mean they couldn't throw epic parties when off work!

Seeing as the 6th tier dungeon mistress could so easily be Hypnotized meant he and his men had no possibility of resisting it either. As such, the best possible strategy going forward would have to involve giving the Hypnotist - whichever one of them it was - as little reason as possible for using their Skill on someone else.

Which in turn meant letting them do what they wanted. And as getting them into the Dungeon had been a part of the original plan…

It could have been worse.

It might still become worse. If they destroy the Dungeon…

But there wasn't really anything he could do about that. What he could do was get mistress Acacia free of the mind control.

He and his men pretended everything was fine in the world while they distracted the dungeon mistress with meaningless paperwork to keep her close and distracted. Then, once the 1st Floor of the Dungeon had cleared, Dakath and 4 of his deputies lured her into the Dungeon.

This is where Dakath expected trouble to arrive. The noblewoman knew the Dungeon could and would free people from mind control, so surely she would resist.

Only she didn't. Instead she refused to believe she was Hypnotized, even though she could see the words and the timer above her head.

That denial meant she acted surprisingly docile while they kept her in the Dungeon. She had asked for her emco so she could make some calls, but Dakath didn't believe that would have been a good idea and denied her request. And then ordered pen and paper delivered so she could instead write letters, mostly as a way to calm her down and distract her.

The letters wouldn't be sent before she had regained her sanity, after all. And Dakath suspected she, at that point, wouldn't want them sent at all.

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For a moment the sheriff's plan had filled me with hope. Maybe the Lightning Mage will be able to help me at least delay the cultists. Surely she'll be able to - with my help - shake off the Hypnosis faster than normal cultists! She's a smart mage after all!

But then she and her guards entered my Dungeon and revealed the 8 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds timer she had.

Which is when I remembered it wasn't her Intelligence, but rather Awareness or Charisma - whichever was the highest for her - that would allow her to regain her free will.

Ahhh!

Then the Hypnotist is - somewhat ironically - the one who'll regain his free will first.

That does make sense, though. The Ability Scores needed to mind control people are the same ones needed to resist it.

So! Current plan: Delay the cultists for- I checked the current timer above the Hypnotist. - 3 hours 34 minutes and hope the Hypnotist can either reverse his own Hypnosis - assuming he was the one to Hypnotize the others - or can assist me in freeing their minds. The first would mean I only have one left to deal with and while it's the strongest one, I would also have 5 powerful people to help me restain her.

The latter option… really depends on how the Hypnotist initially reacts to being freed… For both his and my sakes it would be best if he could hide his sudden freedom from the others. Just long enough to free their minds.

But if he starts freaking out too badly…

They may just kill him…

I hoped it wouldn't come to that. It was really unlikely I would be able to help him survive, should the rest turn on him. They were simply too powerful for me!

I was still only a 2nd tier Dungeon meant for Parties of level 10 to 20! Not a Party of level 48 to 74!

My sapiency might have made me more dangerous than a normal Dungeon but not by that much!

Just to be on the safe side: Is there any way I can push this in my favor?

With the Lightning Mage Hypnotized I can't rely on her to help me. I suppose I could send a mimic to talk to the sheriff if need be. But any attempt at communicating with Sarzina would be discarded as something said by 'the monsters keeping their goddess trapped' and thus not to be trusted.

…

… But I don't normally communicate with her through my creatures. We usually go through the System! Meaning she would be much more likely to trust my word even while under mind control! After all, the cult still worships the System!

But is it worth the risk?

I didn't waste a lot of time considering the risks and in turn I didn't really find any. With the Lightning Mage under willing guard even while Hypnotized, there wouldn't be a big chance of her making trouble. If she chose to reply to me out loud - something unnecessary for this type of communication - her guards would notice which might reveal our communication.

But rather that than death. And I did know just the thing to ask for.

Request denied

Sarzina Acacia had lended the 'allow all'-tool used to break the allowed number per Floor limits during her initial run through your Dungeon. It has since been carried back to its creator.

As Sarzina Acacia no longer possesses the 'allow all'-tool she is unable to accept your request at this time.

Your linked activator requests to know if you want her to procure an 'allow all'-tool for you.

Will you accept this request?

Yes/No

Likely due to me having included silence in my request, no sound had left the mouth of the Lightning Mage as she read and answered it.

But that didn't mean people didn't notice her acting weird.

The moment she got the request her back had straightened, her eyes sparkled, and her lips turned to a smile. Then she had - presumably - realized she couldn't help her god’s representative as her body language had clearly reflected disappointment and sadness.

This didn't go unnoticed but due to my request for silence on the matter - or perhaps the included reminder - she didn't answer any questions they had. While this was a bit worrying it didn't take the sheriff long before he decided to simply let it go, citing 'whatever it was hadn't gone as expected for her it seems', which in turn meant it was either neutral or good for the non-Hypnotized elves.

So while that aspect of it had gone well, the denied request was disappointing. After all, the item could have allowed me to storm the cultist with enemies and slow their progress considerably. And they wouldn't even have had any allies close enough to come back them up, so they couldn't even take advantage of it!

… Then again… The Lightning Mage might have joined them then…

Nonetheless, it didn't happen.

What other options do I have for slowing them down?

…

Dungeon Rules, maybe?

The obvious solution would be to make a Rule to simply forbid mind control on the next Floor they'll enter, but of course I don't have enough mana for that! I wasn't all that good at keeping mana in reserve in case of emergencies. Creating new creatures and designing rooms were fun and some of the only things I as a Dungeon Core could use my time on. The Tribe slept through the day and the elves were pretty repetitive to observe - when inside my Dungeon - and listen to.

While I hadn't used any mana since I noticed people with 0% karma level entering the 1 kilometer radius around my Portal in the Surface World, it would still take me longer before I had enough mana to make a 'mind control is forbidden on this Floor' Rule than it would take for the Hypnotist to get his mind back. (AN: That's a long sentence! Does it still make sense? Can it be shortened and should I do so?) And I seriously doubted it would take a Party that overpowered more than 6.5 hours to finish my first 9 Floors. I had to have made the Rule before they entered the Floor or it wouldn't take effect for them, after all! So, I couldn't even rely on my 10th Floor to slow them down enough if I went for that plan!

Meaning it made more sense in the present, to use what mana I had on something else.

Maybe I could speed up the process? So, the Hypnotist has his mind freed quicker? And maybe, if my Floors slow them down enough, I could even have the other Brainwashed person freed at the same time! Given how she's the strongest of them and he's the Hypnotist that would definitely be preferable!

But the two do have a couple of hours in difference in their timers, so it might be too much to ask…

Well. Let's see!

It took a bit of time to formulate the Rule I thought would work best.

System? How much would a Rule which lets me use my own mana to undo someone's mind control cost, and what would be the ratio on it? I had to go for speed and being a cheapskate would simply waste time I didn't have.

Still. I didn't want to buy the Rule only for 1,000 mana to equal a single minute.

As Dungeon Rules can only affect the Dungeon itself and not individuals, such a Rule can not be made.

…

Okay then…

But why does my 'Get Out of My Head' Rule work, then?

A Dungeon Rule has to cover at minimum an entire room and affect everyone within that area, who fulfilled the Rule's trigger criteria. Default criteria is all visitors, but can be changed to only affect some visitors or specific Dungeon-aligned categories instead. If a Rule is changed to only specific visitors, then the criteria must be wide enough that the System determines it not targeted at a certain individual or group of less than 36 people.

The Dungeon Rule "Get Out of My Head" is a Dungeon-wide Rule which is constantly in effect.

Your attempted Rule would only affect one sapient at a time and only some of the time.

Quickly going over all my Rules I could see how most of them had actually followed this System Rule I hadn't been aware of.

What about 'Eavesdropping on the Warden'? That one only affects the Lightning Mage yet went through without problems.

The Dungeon Rule "Eavesdropping on the Warden" made use of the link between the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around your Fake Core and the Cage's activator to circumvent the inability to target individuals.

… Okay. So, that’s a one time thing…

Essentially… Rules have to have a passive effect, though it can be hidden behind a trigger. And the trigger can't be so specific the Rule only activates for 36 people or less.

… 36?

6 times 6, as 6 is the System's holy number?

The System didn't confirm nor deny anything.

Never mind.

I need to make a passive Rule covering at least a whole room, though a whole Floor would be the same price. The trigger can be 25% karma or lower, that seems to work just fine, after all.

Time to get creative before the Party got too far ahead for it to be useful!